The present invention relates to a juvenile seat assembly, and particularly, to a juvenile seat assembly having a safety harness that restrains a child in a seat of the juvenile seat assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to ajuvenile seat assembly having a harness strap retainer apparatus.
Juvenile seat assemblies having safety harnesses to restrain children in seats of juvenile seat assemblies are well known. Such juvenile seat assemblies often are included in car seats, strollers, and child swings. The harnesses used in juvenile seat assemblies usually include a number of straps. The length of the straps and the connection points between one or more of the straps and the seats of juvenile seat assemblies are usually adjustable so that the juvenile seat assemblies are able to accommodate children of different sizes. Adjusting the connection points between straps and seats of some conventional juvenile seat assemblies can be a cumbersome, time consuming process. Thus, caregivers of children would appreciate ajuvenile seat assembly having a simple, easy-to-use harness strap retainer apparatus for adjusting the connection point of the harness to the seat.
According to the present disclosure, a juvenile seat assembly includes a seat having a seat panel formed to include an opening. The juvenile seat assembly also includes a harness having a strap and a mount coupled to the strap. The mount is movable relative to the seat between a first orientation in which the mount is able to pass through the opening and a second orientation in which the mount is unable to pass through the opening. The juvenile seat assembly further includes a retainer coupled to the seat panel. The mount is couplable to the retainer to be held in the second orientation by the retainer. The strap extends from the mount through the opening when the mount is coupled to the retainer.
In an illustrative embodiment, the retainer is formed to include a pocket. The mount is sized to fit into the pocket so that the mount is unable to move front-to-back and side-to-side relative to the seat panel when the mount is coupled to the retainer. The illustrative retainer also includes a pair of locking elements that engage the mount to prevent the mount from falling downwardly out of the pocket. The pair of illustrative locking elements includes two retaining tabs, one of which is coupled to a flexible finger. A user flexes the flexible finger to move the associated retaining tab out of engagement with the mount. The user is then able to remove the mount from the pocket thereby detaching the mount from the retainer.
According to the illustrative embodiment, the seat assembly includes a seat panel having three openings formed therein and a retainer having three pockets along with three pairs of locking elements. Each of the three pockets is associated with a respective one of the three openings in the seat panel and the strap extends from the mount through whichever of the openings is associated with the pocket occupied by the mount. Thus, the mount and strap are selectively attachable to the seat panel at three different positions. A user will select one of the three positions based upon the size of the child to be seated in the juvenile seat assembly. In alternative embodiments, the seat panel and retainer are configured to provide a different number of positions.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.